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Being a FellowKnight Fellows take courses at MIT and Harvard, attend the twice-weekly Knight seminars, and also participate in our boot camps and field trips. Fellows are required to attend at least one science-related course each semester (the choice to be made in consultation with the director). Near the end of each semester, each Fellow will make a 20-minute presentation to the other Fellows of some relevant portion of what was learned. Fellows are also required to submit a monthly report to the director of their fellowship activities. But there's much more to being a fellow. Here's what past Fellows say about the program:
Justin Gillis
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In the morning you might head off to see the president of Bosnia speak, or attend a roundtable on science and security, at Harvard’s Kennedy School. You won’t want to miss Jared Diamond entertaining an afternoon audience at MIT. And, if you’ve got energy left in the evening, you’ll get to pick between Salman Rushdie appearing at a local bookstore or E.O. Wilson waxing lyrical at the Natural History Museum. Not before skimming a chapter for your medical ethics class, or popping to the MIT gym for a swim. Natasha Mitchell |
I began my first semester taking courses I thought would be beneficial to my career. I was interested in developing story ideas about medicine and biology. I took “Introductory Biology” with Eric Lander and Robert Weinberg, “Human Anatomy and Dissection” at Harvard Medical School, “Principles of Epidemiology,” “Foundations of Global Population Studies” and—for fun— “Celestial Navigation.” All these classes, to my surprise, were interesting and the professors were dynamic and entertaining. In “Human Anatomy,” I got to hold a brain, a heart, a buttock, and a foot. In “Celestial Navigation,” I learned how to use a sextant. For the first time, in a long time, I was learning new things that had nothing to do with “Extreme Engineering.” It was exhilarating!
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Not since I graduated from journalism school at Columbia University had I had the opportunity to immerse myself, mind and spirit, in the craft of science journalism; to talk about the craft, to share with other like-minded science and medical reporters the ins and outs of what we do, how we do it, where we succeed and where we fail. Eric Adler |
I managed to finagle a trip to Ukraine in mid-winter to learn about environmental issues plaguing the former Soviet Union. When I got back, I signed up for a Soviet history class and researched health problems from the Chernboyl accident ten years ago. I doubt I'll cover Kiev from Montpelier, but I now have a much better perspective on U.S. environmental issues—indeed, U.S. society in general—than I had before I went.
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Expect the unexpected. Your fellow Fellows are much different from what you see in those pictures on the Knight Fellowship web page. In fact they are more fun than you can imagine. Akin Jimoh |
One former fellow gave me advice about the fellowship I found to be of great value. He said to spend a few minutes every day just thinking about the fact that I had the fellowship and feeling grateful for it. I found this not only kept me focused, it prevented panic. Instead of letting the year fly by, I stopped every day to notice where I was, what I was doing and why I was doing it. It made me happy.
I found being a Knight Fellow a marvelous experience overall, but not entirely for the reasons I expected. Perhaps the biggest unexpected bonus was the chance to swap career notes and ideas with a group of smart journalists who shared my interests and many of my goals.